Justice Gilmar Mendes, the longest-serving member of Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), ordered the Federal Police on Sunday (13) to send his chambers the full contents extracted from the cellphone of former banker Daniel Vorcaro. The order follows a decision by Justice Cristiano Zanin, who gave the force until 11 p.m. Sunday to deliver a copy of the device. In his ruling, Gilmar wrote that no improper handling of the data is being considered, according to the newspaper O Globo. The dispute comes two days before a session in which the full court will decide whether to open a formal investigation of Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

The device is an iPhone 17 Pro seized on November 18, 2025, when Vorcaro was first arrested in Operation Compliance Zero, an inquiry into suspected fraud at Banco Master estimated at 12.2 billion reais. Vorcaro is under investigation and has not been convicted. A Federal Police report identified 52 messages between the banker and Moraes; according to investigators, Vorcaro asked the justice for help to contain moves by the police and federal prosecutors against the bank. Some of the replies attributed to Moraes were reportedly sent through single-view or self-erasing mechanisms, which prevented full recovery of the conversations, according to InfoMoney. Questioned on August 28, Vorcaro said he could not recall the recipient of the messages police attribute to the justice, and his defense said he is willing to cooperate in a future plea deal.

What each side argues

Justice André Mendonça, who reports on the Compliance Zero case, opposes releasing the full contents now. He argues that broader sharing would only "disrupt the trial" and could put "the continuation and success of the investigations" at risk, and says every justice already has the material needed for the session. Mendonça quoted court president Edson Fachin, who wrote that "the gravity of the facts does not allow shortcuts", and added that there is no room for "subterfuges or detours".

Zanin answered that "there is no hierarchy among the justices of the STF" and that the evidence belongs to the full court, not to a single member, adding that judges cannot face "any restriction on access to information". He noted that Vorcaro's own defense has already seen the complete file and said he needs the full material to form his judgment by Tuesday (15). Moraes backed the request, writing that "it is not up to the reporting justice to choose" which documents the court may see. Gilmar said keeping the data only in Mendonça's office undermines the court's internal balance, and pledged that his copy will remain under "a strict regime of restriction, with access limited to this office". The Prosecutor General's Office has also asked that all justices see the complete file and argues the police report should be voided because the inquiry was conducted irregularly, according to InfoMoney.

The Federal Police told Fachin that the phone and the original extraction never left the institution, kept under documented chain of custody with intact seals, and that it has "full technical capability" to produce and send identical copies to any office that requests them. The force said the file sent to Mendonça's office in March was a copy of the extracted data, delivered at that office's formal request, not the original. Mendonça says he holds only an encrypted and sealed backup copy that he has never handled.

How the case reached this point

• November 18, 2025: Vorcaro is arrested in the first phase of Compliance Zero; the iPhone is seized.
• March 2026: a copy of the extracted data is sent to Mendonça's office, which reports on the investigation.
• September 1: Mendonça lifts the secrecy of the Federal Police report on the messages between Vorcaro and Moraes.
• September 3: Moraes removes the secrecy of police intelligence reports on Mendonça's conduct.
• September 9 and 10: Fachin takes the Fake News inquiry away from Moraes, schedules the September 15 session and ends the secrecy of case records.
• September 12: Gilmar asks Fachin for the full file; Fachin gives the police 24 hours to explain how the device is stored.
• September 13: the police say they are ready to send copies, and Zanin and Gilmar issue their orders.

The next step is Tuesday's session (15), when the justices are to weigh the report on the messages and decide whether there are grounds to investigate Moraes. Moraes's request that the court also vote on investigating Mendonça is scheduled for September 23, according to G1. Emílio Peluso, a constitutional law professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, told BBC News Brasil the session may be widened to address other fronts in the dispute among the justices.